


Found Parts

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Autistic Rey [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Universe, Eventual Romance, Multi, Scavenger Rey (Star Wars), autistic Rey, honestly I don’t know what this is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-01 10:25:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16763290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: What if Rey were autistic?





	Found Parts

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: I admit that this is new territory for me. I’m on the autistic spectrum myself, but this is the first fic I’ve written that actually focuses on the autistic Rey idea.

There was something about being up this high in a Star Destroyer that was frightening and exhilarating at the same time. 

It wasn’t anything that Rey wasn’t used to, but it was something that was still a thrill all the same. Especially being inside a Star Destroyer, an old relic from the past. Even reaching in for the part, Rey found that it was a bit of a struggle, but she ultimately wrenched it free. 

She bagged it before swinging to the bottom, landing on her feet. She’d learned this routine by heart by now, and now...now it was time to leave. 

Outside was hot. Too hot. It was almost like an uncomfortable blanket of heat, smothering, beating down on her. Jakku was just about always like that, and she was grateful, at least, that most of her scavenger gear prevented her from being effectively burned by the sun. Her water bottle was almost out of water, even as she tapped it to let the last few, precious drops trickle out. 

She made a toboggan-sort for herself before sledding to the bottom towards her speeder. It was one of the many things that she had to invent on Jakku, something she’d been dreaming up in order to get from point A to point B in one piece. All without having to trudge through miles of uncomfortable sand. Sand got everywhere — in your clothes, for example. It was the sort of itchy texture that Rey hated. Even sledding to the bottom, she hated the scrape of the toboggan over sand, but in the end, she supposed there was nothing she could really do. 

You couldn’t change the sands of Jakku, even if you tried. 

Niima Outpost was crowded when she got there. Too many people. She always hated that about Niima Outpost, the excessive chatter that seemed to wash over her and overload her senses. She could catch faint snatches of conversation here and there, but not by much. Even standing in line and rubbing the part clean, getting rid of dust that seemed to cling unpleasantly to it, Rey already wished that she could get out of the line. Too much chatter. Too many things. She hummed softly, remembering a lullaby that her mother would sing to her whenever she had strange flashes and was unable to get back to sleep. 

Plutt didn’t approve of her humming. “You’re a grown woman,” he said once when she was eighteen and he caught her humming in line. “You should know better.” Still, Rey couldn’t bring herself to stop. It was one of those habits that was at least comforting. 

In line, she presented her part to Plutt. “What you brought me today,” said the Crolute in his almost burbly voice, a voice that still felt like an oil slick, “Is worth...one half-portion.”

Rey hated him quietly, but said nothing. She hoped at least her face said it all. 

The inside of her AT-ST was the closest she could get, in the end, to home. It was quiet, to begin with. Not much bright light, if at all. It had things that meant a lot to her, such as her old pilot doll, which she couldn’t bear to give away. There was a plant that she had tried to take care of when she was younger, before it had withered away and died. Tally marks on the wall for every day that Rey had been here on Jakku — if not for the fact that her parents were still out there, about to come back for her, she would have left the wretched, odious planet a long while ago. 

She prepared her food. Meager portion bread. It was at least tolerable when she finished it and ate it outside — the first time she’d tried portion bread without her own modifications, she’d gagged. Plutt had shouted at her for that and made her cry, and it was just one of those things that Rey was used to on Jakku. 

It wasn’t filling. But Rey was used to that too. 

It was while she put on an old Rebel pilot’s helmet after she finished her bread that she heard a commotion down below. A scuffle. She took off the pilot’s helmet before running towards her staff and grabbing it before sprinting down the dunes. It was Teedo, from Niima Outpost, with some sort of BB unit (interesting colors, Rey had to admit, almost garish. Who would paint their BB unit orange and white, really?) tangled in his net. Rey shouted out to him in his own language; she didn’t begrudge scavengers, being one herself, but she knew it wasn’t fair for the BB unit to be treated like this. 

Teedo shouted back at her. It was hard to read, but Rey could imagine he wasn’t happy with having his new trophy taken from him. 

Rey was the one who drew a knife on Teedo before using it to cut the BB unit free. Teedo eventually lumbered away, and the BB unit emitted truly ear-piercing blats of anger. 

“Shhhhh,” she said. When the BB unit inquired who it was, Rey said, “That’s just Teedo. He wants you for parts. He has no respect for anyone.” She knelt next to the droid, straightened its antenna. “It was bent,” she said. “It didn’t really look right. Where do you come from?”

The BB unit beeped. BB-8 was his designation, but other than that, he couldn’t say. 

“Classified, really?” Rey said. “Me too. Big secret. Niima Outpost is that way, just off Kelvin Ridge. Stay away from the sinking fields in the north; you’ll drown in the sand.”

She was about to head towards the desert when the BB unit actually decided to follow her. “Don’t follow me,” she said. “Town is that way.”

She wasn’t about to have a new companion, no matter if she saved them from Teedo, along for a trip. After all, she worked alone. It was how it was, really, and she wasn’t about to change it. 

The BB unit was still following her. “No!” Rey said. She turned around, saw the BB unit, lingering behind her, staring at her (in a way; Rey didn’t know if droids could really stare). It looked vulnerable and small. It dwooed lowly, and Rey couldn’t help but wonder. 

He seemed so very alone. And Rey knew what it was like, at least, to be lonely. 

“Come on,” she said. 

They walked along the dunes, and Rey turned towards BB-8. “In the morning you go,” she said. The droid beeped, and Rey said, “You’re welcome.” She supposed she could get used to it, the idea of having a friend. 

Maybe she couldn’t get too used to it, though. 


End file.
